Twitter to surrender Occupy protester's tweets: lawyer

September 13, 2012|Reuters

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Twitter is expected to handover tweets from an Occupy Wall Street protester to a New Yorkcriminal judge on Friday after months of unsuccessfully fightinga subpoena from prosecutors, the protester's lawyer said onThursday.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Matthew Sciarrino orderedTwitter earlier this week to comply with the subpoena by Fridayor face contempt and a substantial fine.

The protester, Malcolm Harris, was one of hundreds arrestedduring a mass protest on the Brooklyn Bridge in October. TheManhattan district attorney's office is seeking the tweets,which are no longer available online, to try to undermineHarris' argument that police officers appeared to leadprotesters on to the bridge's roadway only to arrest them forobstructing traffic.

In the months since prosecutors subpoenaed Twitter for therecords, Harris and Twitter have both waged a legal battle toquash the request, citing privacy concerns and other issues.

Sciarrino rejected those arguments and ordered Twitter inJune to produce the tweets. Earlier this week, he told thecompany it had until Friday to comply or face contempt.

Harris' lawyer, Martin Stolar, filed for an emergency stayon Thursday in a separate court, but had not yet heard from thejudge.

"It is my understanding that Twitter will comply, barring astay," he said.

Lawyers for Twitter did not immediately return requests forcomment late on Thursday, and the company did not respond torequests for comment.

Twitter has filed an appeal of Sciarrino's June order, butit is possible the appellate court could find it moot if thecompany hands over the tweets on Friday, Stolar said. Inaddition to Twitter's appeal, Stolar has filed a civil actionclaiming Sciarrino overstepped his authority in ordering thetweets produced.